Georgia AG Carr: Americans should be 'very concerned' seeing DOJ 'weaponized'
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr pushes back against the Biden Justice Department's lawsuit against the state's voting law.
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr slammed the lawsuit filed by the Biden administration's Department of Justice against the state's new election law on Monday, calling it "blatantly political."
"In fact, I’ve said it is not a lawsuit, it’s a campaign flier," Carr told "America’s Newsroom" on Monday. "The Department of Justice is simply playing politics."
"They are not upholding the rule of law and this blatantly political action taken by the United States Department of Justice is factually, legally and constitutionally wrong," he added.
Carr also argued that "Americans should be concerned seeing the Department of Justice being weaponized" by "political activists who just don't like how Georgia is doing its business."
Carr made the comments pushing back against the DOJ’s decision to sue the state over its new Election Integrity Act. The department announced the suit on Friday, alleging Republican state lawmakers rushed through a sweeping overhaul with an intent to deny Black voters equal access to the ballot.
"Where we believe the rights of civil rights of Americans have been violated we will not hesitate to act," Attorney General Merrick Garland said.
Georgia's new voting law has received heavy criticism from Democrats and corporations this year due to the expansive powers granted to the state over local election offices. Among the most high-profile provisions of the law is a change in how the state verifies the identity of voters who request and cast absentee ballots. The law eliminates signature matching and requires an ID to vote, if an individual has one.
GEORGIA OFFICIALS FIRE BACK AT DOJ'S 'BLATANTLY POLITICAL' LAWSUIT AGAINST THE STATE'S ELECTION LAW
This change has been criticized on the left as making it more difficult to vote by mail, a method used more by Democratic voters in the Georgia 2020 race won by President Biden. However, the law also provides Georgia voters who don't have a photo ID with several different options to confirm their identity when requesting a ballot.
Carr told host Dana Perino that he believes that "anybody who will actually read the Georgia law sees its strength and security."
"It expands access and it improves transparency and that’s why we will be successful defending this particular action as we will the other seven," he said.
Carr said that in "no way, shape or form" was it meant to harm Black Americans as critics have alleged.
"I think it’s important to note Attorney General Garland came into office saying he was going to depoliticize the Justice Department," he added. "Falsely claiming that people of color are going to have their vote either not count or somehow they’re not going to be able to vote is disingenuous at best and patently false and wrong at worst."
Carr then said, "I think Americans should be very concerned seeing the Department of Justice being weaponized, as our Governor Brian Kemp said, weaponized by political activists who just don’t like how Georgia is doing its business."
On Friday, Kemp issued a statement responding to the Department of Justice lawsuit saying it was "born out of the lies and misinformation the Biden administration has pushed against Georgia’s Election Integrity Act from the start."
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Spokespeople with the Department of Justice and the White House did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment.
Fox News' Tyler Olson, Kelly Laco and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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